Feedback: Readers debate what to do about Detroit's pension problem

Aug. 2, 2013

Firefighters gather in front of the U.S. district court in downtown Detroit during a Detroit bankruptcy hearing last month. They were protesting possible pension cuts. / Andre J. Jackson/Detroit Free Press

Last week, the Detroit Free Press Editorial Board urged state and federal officials to keep the state’s constitutional promise to protect public pensions. Here’s what readers had to say in letters to the editor and comments on Freep.com:

Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr and the State of Michigan need to work out a viable ratio to make the pensions whole. In other words, the city would continue to pay a certain percentage and the state would make up the difference. As Detroit’s financial health improves, it would be compelled to pick up more and more of that payment. In the meantime, all new hires should be put into a 401(k) system.

Scott Daniel

Via Facebook comments

I never lived in Detroit and I have to pay for these pensions? I don’t think so!

Bob Quay

Via Facebook comments

We can throw blame around all day but one thing is for sure: The city’s retirees did not create this problem. They should not be deprived of their constitutionally protected pensions.

Nick Ciaramitaro

Via Facebook comments

There shouldn’t be any question about paying pension benefits to public employees. The real question should be, “Who is going to protect the taxpayers from the fiscally irresponsible officials who make pension promises that cannot be kept?” Future demands are being placed on current and future taxpayers without their knowledge or consent. What happens when they run out of money?

Jim Miller

Bloomfield Township

Retirees are not just like any other creditor. They have contributed to the pension fund and have a right to demand the pension that was promised to them, especially, in light of the fact that the public pensions in Michigan are constitutionally protected.

If our attorney general, Bill Schuette, is so supportive of protecting pensions on constitutional grounds, why has he not mentioned that the pensions will be protected even if it means selling some of the assets of City of Detroit?

Pradeep Srivastava

Via Facebook comments

As metro Detroiters, we need to open up our wallets to help support local food banks, charities, etc. to offset what will be a very difficult time for a lot of folks.

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Jim Harris

Via Facebook comments

To keep a promise is very important, and the pension promise is in the constitution. Asking the State of Michigan to make up the lost income means that other people who were promised things will also have to do without. The state is not a company that will lose some of its corporate profits. The money could come from other social programs that depended on those funds. It is easy to say, “Do what is right morally,” but sometimes doing what is right morally is impossible.

Joseph F. Overaitis

Via Facebook comments

Why should the rest of Michigan taxpayers be on the hook for Detroit’s mismanagement?

Gary Stuart

Via Facebook comments

No group can be immune from participating in a solution for the city’s debt crisis, particularly when all played a part in creating it.

Matthew Kilburn

Via Facebook comments

Spare me the “I’m not from Detroit, so why should my taxes pay to help them?” We pay taxes that are used for things we never use as individuals all the time. Have you ever used your local fire department for anything? If not, then demand a refund. Don’t own a car? Demand a refund for the roads. Don’t camp? State taxes are paying for those parks. Demand a refund.

David McEntyre

Via Facebook comments

Simple fix: The State of Michigan should take over administration and distribution of all Detroit pension funds, and the state should make whole any decrease in benefits the present pensioners may incur. There is no way the City of Detroit will go through the bankruptcy process and the state not be forced to give some sort of financial aid to Detroit, and what better way to do it than to support the present pensioners?

Bryan Swilley

Via Facebook comments

Put it on the ballot this fall — a statewide Detroit pension tax to be paid by all Michigan citizens regardless of where they live, or an increase in the sales tax to support it. I wonder if it would pass?

Steve Oakley

Via Facebook comments

Having the State of Michigan help pay for this mess doesn’t solve any of the problems that caused it.

With the state or federal government jumping in to help, there would be no incentive to run an efficient governmental operation.

William W. Murray

Via Facebook comments

It is time to sell the artwork. Liquidate it. I’m sorry, but I can’t give the Detroit Institute of Arts’ “public trust” argument precedence over the moral obligation to any creditor, but especially the retirees.

Jim Sterken

Via Facebook comments

Will the responsible ones be held accountable for lack of due diligence? Not today or any day. They have departed for greener pastures with monies and pensions guaranteed.

Why not subject those who were responsible for the unbelievable mess they created? Hold them responsible for past errors and make them pay for their mistakes?